Below is the most relevant info. Feel free to quote as needed. A moredetailed history of the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause will beprovided in a forthcoming CIS report.

If you need anything else, please let me know!

-- Jon Feere

Legal Policy AnalystCenter for Immigration Studies

If the United States were to end the practice of granting automaticcitizenship to children born to illegal immigrants, we would befollowing an international trend. Countries that have ended thepractice in recent decades include the United Kingdom (1983),Australia (1986), Malta (1989), Ireland (2004), New Zealand (2006),and the Dominican Republic which ended the practice in January 2010.Today fewer than 30 of the world’s 195 countries grant automaticcitizenship to children born to illegal immigrants. No Europeancountry has such a policy. The only advanced economies in the worldwith birthright citizenship policies are the United States and Canada.Other countries are also considering changes.

The reasons these countries have ended automatic birthrightcitizenship are diverse, but have resulted from concerns not all thatdifferent from the concerns of many citizens in the United States.Increased illegal immigration is the main motivating factor. Everyyear about 400,000 children are born to illegal immigrants in theUnited States.

In the United States, both republicans and democrats in Congress haveattempted to initiate debate on the subject of birthright citizenshipfor children of illegal aliens in an effort to end the practice here.Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) introduced legislation to end suchbirthright citizenship in 1993, and the current Congress saw theintroduction of the “Birthright Citizenship Act of 2009” byCongressman Nathan Deal (R-Ga.). The current bill has attracted 91co-sponsors.

The policy has arguably become standard practice without the consentof the American public. A recent survey found that only 33 percent ofAmericans support the practice of granting automatic citizenship tochildren born to illegal aliens. Available at:http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/58_say_no_to_citizenship_for_children_of_illegal_immigrants

An entire industry of “birth tourism” has been created and thephenomenon of pregnant women traveling to the United Statesspecifically for the purpose of giving birth on U.S. soil has grownlargely without any debate from Congress, nor the consent of thepublic. See this Washington Post article for a recent expose:

Keith B. Richburg, For Many Pregnant Chinese, a U.S. Passport For BabyRemains a Powerful Lure, WASH. POST, July 18, 2010.Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/17/AR2010071701402.html

Original research by the Center for Immigration Studies found thatonly 27 of the world's 195 countries grant automatic birthrightcitizenship to children born to illegal aliens. The research is theproduct of direct conversations with foreign government officials: